Dan Janisch is an affable enigma. He has been around the block, and he's still at it - writing solid songs and playing shows - beholden to no one. He has always operated a bit apart from the mainstream, so much so that he has built a career out of being an outsider. He comprises one third of the songwriting team of the Los Angeles local supergroup, Jolenes, and he has albums of his own. But it's Janisch's Renaissance man lifestyle that helps to paint the legend of his maverick status. He's not content to simply crank out great songs or play solid guitar parts. He is a natural craftsman and a tinkerer who is not afraid to deconstruct things to see how they work, so when Janisch plays those great songs, he might just be doing so with a guitar he built or an amplifier he assembled. Janisch wears his influences on his sleeve, which leads to inevitable comparisons to a number of other artists, and at this stage in his career his voice is eerily reminiscent of an alt-country Neil Diamond - and that's not a bad thing.